I just found out my cost of tuition for my sophomore year is gonna be $22,731 even with financial aid so is it smarter to take a semester off to make money or work while at school?
I don’t know how to calculate how much I’d need to make in order to pay that much so what do I do?!
Hi Keilante,
I don’t have any advice about this because it is a very personal decision. In the end, it may simply be a matter of money.
Good luck!!
Is the $23k just tuition or does it include room and board? How much can your parents pay?
If you need to earn the whole $23k that means you need $11,500 per semester. If you work 40 hours/week for 10 weeks this summer and earn $10/hour, you’ll gross $4,000. If you’re taxed on those earnings and your tax rate is 20% you’ll only net 80% of that. $4,000 x .8 = $3200. If you save all of it then you need $8300 for the fall ($11,500 - $3200).
If your tax rate is 20% then figure that you have to earn 25% more than $8300, or $2075, to cover the income tax. ($8300 x .25 = $2075.) So you’d need to earn $10,375 to net $8300. ($8300 + $2075 = $10,375.) If there are 16 weeks in the semester you need to earn $648/week ($10,375 ÷ 16 = $648). If you work 40 hours/week you need to earn $16.20/hour to gross $648 ($648 ÷ 40 = $16.20). If your tax rate is 20% you’ll net 80% of your gross which is $518 ($648 x .80 = $518). Over the 16 week semester you’d net ~$8288 ($518 x 16 = $8288). You’d have to save all of it to cover your tuition/room and board.
In January you’ll owe another $11,500, but you won’t have summer earnings to help. If there are 16 weeks in a semester you’ll owe $720/week ($11,500 ÷ 16 = $720). If you work 40 hours/week you’d need to earn at least $18/hour to gross that much ($720 ÷ 40 = $18). You’d need to work more or earn more to cover your income tax.
How did you pay for your first year? Are there more affordable options closer to home?
How much can you make this summer? For starters, you are going to have to make a tuition payment in August or Sept for about half of that. You also need books. Are your parents taking care of your living expenses? You mention tuition only, not room and board, is why I’m asking.
My kids worked like crazy over the summers. They had jobs waiting for them and also were in high demand for private lessons that netted a lot of money in a very short time. They also took a third job bussing tables that paid lucratively. But still that much money would not have been likely. That’s with living with us and our providing 3 squares and a cot and more.
In some areas, minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and getting enough regular hours for a full 40 hour week is nigh impossible. With Soc Sec and Medicare tax, even working full time all year isn’t going to get you $14k, just to give you perspective of how much money that school is asking from you.
Well my freshman year I got enough financial aid and scholarships to pay for everything but I got half that this semester.
Also this summer I’ll be making $18 an hour due to a paid internship.
My mother can’t really help me because she’s struggling as it is.
And the 23 grand is the net cost for the 2019-2020 year. The way I see it is I may have to take out a loan but the best I found is one I’d need a cosigner for which seems like a good idea but I’ve always been hesitant about those.
If your mother is struggling financially then it’s not a good idea to ask her to cosign for you. Why are you getting less aid than last year?
I don’t know. I just got less federal aid. My scholarships and grants seem fine but the federal loans are about half as much
The federal loans are $5500 for a freshman, $6500 for a sophomore, and $7500/year as a junior and senior. Have you spoken to financial aid to see what changed and why?
How much in loans did you take last year? How much is in your package this year?
I’ve tried but I can’t get a hold of them when I’m not working. I’m trying to work to make up the large difference.
Now that I think about it I might not need as much since I may have to live off campus these semesters.
This may be a dumb question but in my “financial aid status” tab it says I’m fully covered for the 2019-2020 year but in the “federal shopping sheet” tab it says I received almost $23,000 (less than half). Is there a reason that those are different?
Talk to your financial aid office.
@Keilante_Taylor I second what @JBSeattle said and talk to financial aid. My daughter has a full-ride scholarship at Howard and had a 4.0 GPA 1st year and she is currently showing 47K in loans for the 2019-2020 school year which is false. You could wait a little while to see if Bison Web gets updated before calling the financial aid office, but you are not the only one currently showing something different from the 2018-2019 school year. Hopefully, you are just dealing with Howard needing to update your financial aid portal like my own daughter (she is lucky because she can just email her scholarship director to take care of the issue) and good luck.